Labyrinth
by Fury Seven Kerrigan
Summary: Sudden disappearances of crew members from Enterprise makes for an interesting day for those involved.
1. Chapter 1

**Labyrinth**

**Chapter I**

"What the hell?" Malcolm quickly snapped his head around in the darkness, trying to see where he was.

Only silence answered him, the pitch black not giving anything away.

He immediately felt at his side- there was no phase pistol there. _Of course not_, he thought- he'd just been on the Bridge. No need for a pistol there. His lips twitched. Well, not normally anyway.

He kept one foot firmly planted, and tested the area around him with the other. No trip hazards, no holes. A smooth surface. He took a step. Then he repeated the process until he reached a wall. He about-turned and did the same in the opposite direction. Another wall, pretty close by too. He felt along and came to a corner. From that next wall, he started the stepping routine again until he hit another wall. By his count, he was in a square room, and not a very large one. He felt around all of the walls and couldn't find a door or even a window. He repeated the process, only this time, he pressed his back to the wall, to try and get the most contact with the wall to feel for switches or panels or anything that might give him a clue as to where he was and what he was doing there.

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"What?" Hoshi gasped to herself. "Captain! Malcolm! T'Pol- anyone?" She whirled on the spot where she was standing. _Standing?_ She realised- not even a second ago she'd been sitting at her station on the Bridge of the _Enterprise_, everyone else with her.

She listened carefully. She couldn't see a thing as it was completely pitch black, but her ears rarely deceived her.

"Hullo?" she said, loudly. She listened- the acoustics were incredible. She must be in a room, and probably one with no padding anywhere. She knelt down, eyes unconsciously wide to try and let in any light that there might be.

Once she was down, she felt the floor with her hand. Stone. She felt around feeling what seemed to be grit and dust. She lifted her hand to her nose, smelling the dust on her hand. It had a dry smell of things long-forgotten.

That thought made her heart jump in nervousness.

"Hullo!" She yelled this time, and listened for a reply that didn't come.

She stood still, listening, hoping for a reply for a few minutes. When none came, she dropped to all fours and pushed her hands out in front of her on the floor. She started to move, feeling her way with her hands. She came to an upright wall- the same as the floor. She followed it around, one hand on the wall, the other on the floor.

_Definitely better than doing nothing_, she told herself, using the activity to keep the panic of her claustrophobia down. The room was clearly large, but the oppressive blackness just seemed to be suffocating.


	2. Chapter 2

**Labyrinth**

**Chapter II**

Jonathan Archer had been dictating his Captain's Log whilst on the Bridge on the way to a planet that the long-range sensors had picked up. It was on the Vulcan database as "Thriamar", and a small note mentioning 'tests' or 'games' of an Olympic style that were held every Earth year. Everyone had seemed rather excited at the prospect of seeing Olympic events as held by an unknown species, so Archer had immediately ordered the ship to make way there to request an invitation to see the games. Even T'Pol had seemed interested at the thought of expanding the data stub.

Now though, he was standing who-knew-where in the pitch black and he was at a loss to know how it had happened. What he did know was that it- whatever it was- had happened literally in the blink of an eye. He had no memory of a transition.

He took a careful step forward and immediately stubbed his toe on something large and made of stone- "Son of a-!" he said as he bent to hold the end of his booted foot. "Ah!" He said, feeling it ache as he shook his foot, trying to dispel the pain which was lessening even as he did so. He leant forwards, his arms outstretched and felt the stone, following it up and finding it was only about knee height. He felt his way over the edge of it and down the other side- it was only a few inches thick. His fingers suddenly came into contact with what felt like cold water. He leant his whole body forwards, leaning on the small stone wall and sniffed the water, which had no smell. He crawled around, feeling his way using the stone wall- it was a circle with the water inside it.

"A well then," Archer said to himself as he set to exploring the rest of the place. It was a small room- also circular, with the well right in the centre. No doors or windows either, though he thought that there was sand in various parts of the room.

"What the hell?" He said to himself, unknowingly echoing Malcolm.

As far as he could gather, there was no way into this place, which meant there was no obvious way out.

He wondered about his crew- what would they be thinking with the extremely sudden disappearance of their Captain? _Or_- his eyes widened- _what if they had suddenly disappeared as well?_ He prayed that they were all alright until he found them- or they found him.

With the thought that some or all of his crew could be in the same predicament as he now was, he took the only logical course of action he could think of, and he climbed into the well, diving down into the deep.


	3. Chapter 3

**Labyrinth**

**Chapter III**

Malcolm's analysis of the walls of the room he was trapped in had been painstakingly slow. But as he had felt his way along, he was facing the room, and at one point, about halfway along a wall, his eyes thought they had picked up something. Like a sparkle. Or a laser-sight. He wasn't sure.

He instinctively ducked as he saw it, in case someone **was **targeting him with a laser-sight. When nothing happened, he stood up again, slowly, to see if he could see it again. He had to move his head a little, but then his eyes picked it up again. Only when he was in the correct position could he see it, as it didn't move. He was nearly on tiptoes to see it. It looked like a pair of eyes staring at him- two tiny indistinct red sparkles on what he thought was the opposite wall.

Now he thought he knew the layout of the room, he strode forth purposefully, not letting the 'eyes' out of his sight until he got to the other side.

He lost them, so he took a step back to see them again, and there they were- in the wall, but you couldn't see them from directly below. They were above his head by about a foot. He reached up to touch them- they felt like cut gemstones.

He was balancing on his tiptoes still until he lost his balance, and as he did, his left hand fell slightly dragging over the edge of the stone.

It turned in it's socket and suddenly did indeed become a red laser-sight, and was as bright as one too. Malcolm looked at it, and followed the light across the room. The light hit the wall opposite.

He looked back and twisted it again, to see if it would change further. It went only from a dim sparkle to the beam of light, so he did the same to the other 'eye' and it also became a bright red beam.

His eyes followed both of the beams to the other side of the wall. He was a little confused- they didn't seem to do anything, but just point to the opposite wall.

An idea suddenly occurred to him. He put his hands up in the air so that the two beams were on each hand, and he walked to where they were beaming- the opposite wall. The light beams were just above his wrists as he stood on tiptoe, and when he got to the centre of the room, his fingertips caught on something. _Ah hah! _He looked up, although he wasn't sure why as apart from the beams of light, it was still definitely pitch black in there. But his fingers curled around whatever the thing was- it was round like a disk, and suspended by something metallic. It also moved on an axis, so he spun the edge he was holding downwards towards his head.

The laser beams suddenly caught it and were beamed on to the wall above them.

_So it's a mirror then_, Malcolm realised, his excitement growing at the mystery, though it didn't even come close to piercing the alarm he felt at having suddenly appeared here with no knowledge and without knowing whether everyone else who had been with him on the Bridge was safe or not.

He slowly moved the mirror, directing the beams wherever he wanted them to be. He realised that the ceiling was quite high, probably about two and a half times his height.

Just then, the beams reflected from the mirror caught something. Malcolm focussed the beams on whatever it was- it was some kind of sensor.

While he was trying to work out what it was, the the room started to fill with light. Malcolm moved the beams away from the sensor and the blackness came back, so he returned them and the light filled the room again.

He blinked as his eyes adjusted and for the first time in however long he'd been there for, he saw his room.

The room was a yellowy stone, the floor covered in a film of dust or fine sand. He was indeed in a square room, but the ceiling was high- a bit higher than he'd guessed.

What was the most revealing though was the platforms sticking out of the sides of the walls- starting at just above his head height and spiralling around the walls going upwards towards a small doorway in the ceiling itself.

Malcolm dropped his hands from the mirror which was suspended from a brass-looking pole in the middle of the ceiling, and craned his neck to look at it at the stairs and door- it reminded him of an Escher drawing.

Before he set out to the doorway though, he looked down at himself, assessing his personal situation. He was still wearing his uniform and was as fit and healthy as he had been on the Bridge.

With his danger sense satiated for the moment, he set off, jumping at the first step like a monkey bar and pulling himself up. He stood on it, testing the sturdiness. Once satisfied, he walked up the steps, having to crawl up them as he reached the top, and he climbed through the door in the ceiling.


	4. Chapter 4

**Labyrinth**

**Chapter IV**

It had been slow-going and it felt like she had taken forever, but she knew now that she was in a room about the size of a cathedral- it was even cross-shaped with the occasional buttressed column. The thought of a cathedral had been solidified by her discovery of what felt like small stone pillars all around the edges that were about her chest height with firmly placed busts and stone carvings atop of them.

She would have paid good money to see right now. If she hadn't been in such an alarming situation, she would have loved to study all the carvings she knew she was surrounded by.

As her fingers had learned the carvings like a blind person learning a face, she had realised that they all seemed to be of people.

"I suppose that's normal," she said to herself, trying to calm the nervous tremor and dispel some of the silence. "If it was like a cathedral, all the icons would be of saints and holy people."

Not knowing what else to do, she studied the carvings, hoping that there would be some kind of clue involved.

All of the faces looked towards the large room but one. It was at the 'top' of the cross, as it were, where an altar would be if it were a church on Earth perhaps. It was a small carving, so she turned it around so that she could feel it.

Instantly, large vaulted windows appeared on the walls out of nowhere, each with extraordinarily beautiful mosiac-like patterns all over them, the bright fuchsia-pink sunlight from outside making them sparkle and shine like jewels.

The shock of sudden light made Hoshi fall into a crouch, her instincts making her into as small a form as she could be in case of enemies, but when none came, she stood up, the sheer beauty of the place making her stand still in speechlessness, gaping at all around her. The floor was stone and covered in dust as were the walls, but each were painted with some kind of luminescent paint to make it almost iridescent in the light coming through the windows. The same with all of the carvings that she had painstakingly examined.

The place was stunning, but now she had light, Hoshi could finally figure out a way of escaping this place and finding out where she was. The windows were too high to look out of so she looked around what she now thought of for sure as a cathedral, what with it's great archways and vaulted ceiling.

Her eyes fell again to the floor. The trapdoor that was in the floor was the only doorway.

She ran over to it. It was a different colour from everything else- it was a yellowy stone with a small ring.

She pulled at it, and it came away surprisingly well- it was deceivingly light.

Once it was open, she peered down the steps to the green light emanating from below. She was sure she could hear water moving like a fountain maybe, but nothing else.

She started down the steps.


	5. Chapter 5

**Labyrinth**

**Chapter V**

The deeper he dove, the lighter it seemed to get.

Archer had had to return to the surface of the well a couple of times for air, but this time, he had dived in, the extra momentum getting him further.

There was lichen or some such fungus on the walls which helped him along and it was getting brighter.

In fact, he thought that as his lungs were starting to burn, that the light was changing. He kicked even harder than he currently was, and the burst of speed propelled him out of the water. He gasped for the precious oxygen, clinging to the walls of the well that he'd come up in at the same time as registering a scream from the room somewhere nearby.

"Captain!"

Archer wiped the water from his eyes and opened them.

"Hoshi!"

She ran to the well which wasn't five meters from the bottom of the steps she'd come down and grabbed his arm, helping him out of the well.

"I'm so glad to see you!" She said, smiling happily.

Archer smiled back at her, agreeing with the sentiment exactly. "And I'm glad to see you too! In fact, I'm glad to see anything- I've just come from a pitch black room with nothing but a well in it. How are you- you're not hurt?"

She shook her head whilst assessing Archer at the same time. "Not a scratch on me Captain." She indicated the steps she'd just come down. "I just appeared in that room up there- it's the most colourful cathedral, but I only just found that out. It was pitch black too to start with."

Archer frowned, trying to work it all out.

"Captain, why are we here?" Hoshi asked.

He shook his head. "I've no idea. But we are going to get to the bottom of this." He held out his hand which she took. "For now though, I don't want us splitting up- it took this long to find you and the fact that we're both here makes me think that others are too."

Hoshi nodded in agreement. "Were there any other doors in your cathedral?" He asked.

"No Sir, just the trapdoor leading down."

"There was only one way out in my room too." He looked around their new room.

It was yellowy stone but with no dust or sand. It looked quite clean and well-used actually. There were lush green vines growing all over the walls and trailing across the floors and there was a small fountain splashing into the well that he'd just surfaced from. From the well, tributaries split out to seemingly water the vines all around. The water channels went in and out of the walls and the light came from flamed sconces on the walls.

The overall effect was beautiful, although that was lost on Archer as he searched for answers.

He started walking, Hoshi following him. The room where they began was wide and large, but it narrowed to a wide corridor that took them around corner, up staircases and through archways, the vines, light, and water channels following them all the way.

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Malcolm had stuck his head through the door and when he saw no immediate threat, he went through it. He came to a winding corridor which split off into three directions. They all looked identical. Frustration coursed through him. At least there was sound and light now- flaming sconces, vines, and water channels making a very pleasant sound. It reminded Malcolm a little of a zen garden.

For lack of any other reason other than it was the first one, he took the lefthand corridor.

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Not long after he'd chosen that corridor, Archer and Hoshi appeared out of the middle.

"Great," Archer said, his frustration brewing. "How long were we winding through that lot, and now what- a fork in the road."

He turned to Hoshi. "Any guesses?"

She shrugged helplessly. But she let go of Archer's hand to kneel and examine the door in the floor. The room was beneath her with steps spiralling downwards, but no other likely-looking exit.

Looking down, a thought occurred to her. "Captain, this is another room with only one exit. Maybe someone else was trapped in here and found their way out?"

Archer ran over to see. "I think you're right Hoshi- it definitely looks that way." He made a frustrated noise. "How many of us are trapped down here?"

He stepped away to face the three tunnels in front of him. "HULLO!" He yelled, hoping that someone- anyone- would hear him.

They both listened intently.

"Captain," Hoshi said, barely above a whisper, "I think someone's coming." She listened again. "They're running," she added.

She stood up and went to Archer's side to take his hand again, both of them tensing.

Suddenly, a figure came out of the lefthand lane. Archer relaxed. "Malcolm!"

The surprised look on his Tactical Officer's face made him laugh, a brief moment of joy.

"Captain- Sir! Ensign! It's damn fine to see you both!" The relief in the air was palpable.

Malcolm ran over to them. Instinctively, Archer held out his hand that wasn't holding Hoshi's to shake Malcolm's.

As soon as their hands met, they were in another room. It wasn't even a blink of an eye.

Again.

"This is getting rather tiresome Sir," Malcolm said.

"And yet, it is most agreeable to be reunited," said a voice from behind the three.

They spun around and were greeted with the smiling faces of Trip, T'Pol, and Travis.

"Son of a gun Cap'n," Trip said, coming forwards and grabbing Archer in a bear hug. "We've bin watchin' y'all this time and haven't bin able to do a damn thing."

Travis had straight away come forwards and had given Hoshi a hug. "You did just great in there! That room was so big- it could have taken ages to work that one out!"

"So what exactly happened?" Malcolm asked.

T'Pol turned to the room that the three had suddenly appeared in. There was an enormous holographic viewing station which at the moment had three screens. Everyone gathered around her as she explained. "We have been transported here from the Bridge of the _Enterprise_- we were the only people on the Bridge at the time, and so we are the only people here. Ensign Mayweather, Commander Tucker and I were transported here to watch these three screens- one for each of you so that we could watch as you completed supposed tasks. You were transported here when you made contact with each other."

"Wait a minute," Archer said, raising a hand. "Are you telling me these were tasks, like games?" He looked around for clues though there weren't any obvious ones. "Are we on Thriamar?"

T'Pol inclined her head in thought. "It would appear so Captain."

"And have you had any contact with the people here?" Archer continued.

Trip shook his head. "None yet Cap'n. Not heard a peep from _Enterprise_ either. Hopefully they're sortin' this out."

Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Trip, T'Pol, and Travis disappeared from right in front of Archer.

"Captain, look!" Malcolm said, pointing towards the three screens that the others had watched them from.

Sure enough, T'Pol was alone in the left hand screen, Trip in the centre, and Travis had the right hand one.

"So I guess it's their turn," Archer said.

"At least they have light," Hoshi said from his side.

Archer had to agree. "Malcolm," he said, turning to his Tactical Officer. "Try and find a way out of here or controls for these games- something!"

Malcolm nodded and instantly started around the room taking in every minute detail, nothing escaping him.

"Hoshi," Archer said, "watch them," indicating his officers on the screens.

Archer moved to the back of the room and looked up towards the ceiling, hoping to find something like a camera or a microphone. "I'm sure you can hear me," he said loudly to the room. Hoshi looked back at him briefly before continuing to watch her friends.

"You've clearly been watching our every move," Archer continued, trying to contact whoever was holding them captive. "I want to know why you took us, and for what purpose." He tried to maintain a friendly tone, though at that moment, he felt as if he had every right to be more than a little put out. He didn't even know if they or _Enterprise_ were in danger. "We come in peace," he started again. "My name is Captain Jonathan Archer of the starship _Enterprise_. We are explorers from a planet called Earth. We mean you no harm."

Archer looked around at all of his officers, both in the room and on-screen. No one made any indication that they had been contacted or that they had heard any response to Archer's hails.

"We just want to see you and talk. And I want to know if all of my people are alright."

Archer blinked to find himself suddenly standing in a large auditorium filled with a warm pink light from the sunshine outside. A semicircle of stone thrones were before him, all empty except the one right in front of him in the centre.

Someone entirely covered by a grey robe sat there, the hood pulled so far over that Archer couldn't even see the chin- if the being even had a chin.

"You are Archer," the being sitting on the throne stated, the dusty voice cracking as if it hadn't been used in centuries.

Archer came forwards a few steps, stopping a metre or two before the throne. "Yes, and I need to know if my people are well and safe."

"Your people are safe, as is your ship," the being assured him.

"Then why are we here?" Archer asked.

"We wanted to understand you. Everyone on this planet and who enters Thriamar takes part in the tests. Too many times have we suffered from visitors attacking us."

Archer felt a bit put out. "You could have just asked."

"Would you have told us the truth? And if you did, how would we know?" The being rose from the throne and stepped forward to meet Archer face-to-face. "But you are one of the only ones to realise that we could be spoken to. The Vulcans managed it also. They are very logical after all," and then an asthmatic wheezing began.

"Are you okay?" Archer asked, fearing for the being's health. This only increased the wheezing and Archer realised that this was some sort of laughter. He straightened up. "Are you satisfied that we are telling the truth now then? Will you let us go?"

The being stopped and stared at Archer, even though he still couldn't see any features, he felt as if surprise was emanating from it.

"Go? I thought you wanted to explore?"

"I-," Archer felt surprise, though he wasn't sure why. This was indeed what he wanted. It was just that the reception they'd had didn't feel very welcoming. "Yes please, we would like to explore your world and learn more."

"Captain!" A series of voices came from behind him.

He spun around and there were his five officers.

"Where the heck are we _now_?" Trip asked. "Only a sec ago I was in a room doing a loada puzzles with mirrors and glass.

Archer smiled at having his officers back.

"Thank you," he told his host. "These are my officers-" but before he introduced them, the being spoke up.

"Yes, I know. I know all of you,"

"Creepy," Malcolm said under his breath to Trip standing next to him.

"Yeah," Trip agreed, "'Specially with that voice o' his."

Archer continued, "And this is..." he broke off from introducing his host. "I'm sorry," he said, turning to his host, "you didn't tell me your name."

The being cocked it's head, looking past Archer momentarily. "My name? We have no names here. We are nameless."

"Er, alright," Archer said, for lack of any other response.

"You are all free to go wherever you wish. There are no limits here."

"None at all?" Archer asked. They'd yet to visit a world where there weren't **any** limits.

"There is no need for any- you will come to understand," the being said.

The being turned away and sat slowly back down on his throne.

"You're not coming?" Archer asked him.

"No, no," the being said, sitting back and seeming to take a deep breath. "I'm reaching the age where I would only hold you back. As with the Labyrinth, if you have any questions, just ask and I'll hear. If you wish to travel anywhere in particular, just ask and I will transport you as I have been. I understand that you don't have the same ability. A shame. My people always found fast travel quite advantageous." The being gestured towards the left side of the room. "Through that door there is a remarkable view of the city which you are now in. I suggest taking the opportunity to view that before going anywhere."

Archer nodded his head slowly in thanks and then turned to his officers. "Shall we?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Labyrinth**

**Chapter VI**

"Oh wow," Hoshi breathed quietly.

Malcolm's mouth dropped open and even T'Pol's eyebrows rose.

The view outside of the throne room was...

"... Something else," as Trip put it.

They had gone through the door which led out to a large balcony of white stone which overlooked the city and the mountain capped with snow in the distance with a pinkish tint from the sun overhead.

The city itself seemed to be made entirely of glass. Spindles and spirals were everywhere making up buildings. The quality of the glass varied to make different effects- cloudy glass for external walls and clear glass for variety. Coloured glass made an astonishing light show when the sun shone through it and imperfect variations making bubbles and patterns created entirely another effect.

Overall, the city was beyond beautiful and none of them had seen anything like it.

"The artistry here is... well... I don't know what to say," Hoshi murmured. "Curious that the cathedral-like place I was in during the Labyrinth was made of stone as well as stained glass. But it was full of such intricate carvings that I want to see it again- if they do half the job with the stone as they did with glass then it will also be breathtaking."

Everything about the place made them feel very reverent and not even Trip wanted to break the silence of the place.

"Still," Archer said, shaking himself from his reverie and responding to the unspoken sense of wanting to stay there forever, "we really should take this opportunity to explore the place."

He looked up slightly, automatically. "Uh hullo?" He called out. "We would like to go to that square with all the stained glass please," and he pointed downwards.

Instantly, they were in the stained glass plaza. It was empty of all people apart from them.

"Sir," Malcolm said, "shouldn't we contact _Enterprise_? We don't know if they're fine after all."

Archer looked over at him. "Our host assured me that everyone else was fine, including the ship. But now you come to mention it..." he tailed off as there was suddenly a communicator on the floor in front of him.

"Well whaddya know?" said Trip as Archer picked it up.

"Archer to _Enterprise_," Archer said.

"Sir!" Came the instant response from Ensign Jones, Hoshi's replacement. "Are you all okay? You, Sub-Commander T'Pol, Commander Tucker, Lieutenant Reed, and Ensign Mayweather all just suddenly disappeared. A person with a hood told us you were okay, but it surely is good to hear you in person Sir!" Ensign Jones was clearly very relieved.

"We are all here Ensign, and we are all fine. We're being treated very well by our host and we're just having a look around before we return to the ship. Treat this as a regular planetary scientific expedition."

"Yes Sir!"

"We'll be in touch, Archer out."

He flipped the communicator closed and looked around. His people were wandering around the plaza but all within view of each other.

"Where is everyone?" Trip asked, looking around, not far from Archer.

"It all sure is empty," Travis answered. "Everything seems to be in perfect order, and it's all clean, but there isn't a soul to be found."

"Creepy again," Malcolm said.

"I find it to be quite tranquil," T'Pol ventured. "Particularly with the glass fashioned in the way it is."

Everyone looked up. The buildings were mostly of a blue hue here in the plaza but with trims of gold and pink and there was a glass sculpture with a water cascade down it. Trees that were reminiscent of Earthen trees but were a much brighter green with a dusty brown-pink bark.

They wandered around for some time admiring the views and the stunning cityscape until Archer finally spoke up, speaking to the being they'd seen earlier.

"We'd like to speak to you again please," Archer said, and instantly, all six of them were in the throne room again with the single being they'd seen before, still sitting in exactly the same place.

"Are you the only person here?" Archer asked, getting straight to the point.

The being sat there in it's throne not making any signal that he'd heard Archer.

"Hullo?" Archer asked, taking a couple of steps forward towards the throne.

"Yes, I heard you." The being said quietly. "Yes, I would be the only one of my kind left on this planet. In the universe actually. We didn't venture far. Which is why I told you that you would understand the reasoning of no limits. You would not have offended anyone here."

"But earlier, you mentioned 'us' and 'we'. From that, I kind of gathered that there were lots of you here."

The being seemed to sigh- it's shoulders rising and falling slowly.

"It has been a long time since I had company- apart from people such as the Klingons and visitors through the Labyrinth- and so I have taken to talking to myself. It seems far less lonely to use 'we' and pretend I'm talking to my people again."

Archer was quiet for a moment. "I'm sorry. How long has it been since your people were here?"

"I was quite young. Which is probably why I'm the only one here now- we live an exceptionally long time and I am quite old now. There was an epidemic and we were unable to breed anymore. I still enjoy visitors though," the being said with a slightly lighter tone of voice.

"Well," Archer began, "as envoys of our planet Earth, we can offer you transport to anywhere you would like to go."

"No thank you," the being said. "I am the sole person on this planet now, and it is still my home. I would however request that you return here one day, if you are able?"

Archer smiled at the being. "Of course. And I think that I might be able to do one better than that- if you would like, I can tell my people on Earth that you are willing for visitors to come here for vacations. You would get a lot more visitors than the occasional explorers that we are if we did. Does that sound acceptable to you?"

The being tilted it's head to the side and then started it's asthmatic wheezing of a laugh. "Yes, Captain Archer, I do believe that that would be acceptable."

T'Pol stepped forwards. "I believe that Vulcans have also been here, if the data on _Enterprise_ is to be understood correctly. If you are amenable to the suggestion, then I may also update the records so that you will also have Vulcans visiting here. They would particularly admire the tranquility of your city."

The being slowly nodded in thanks. "I would also like this."

The being stood up slowly, spreading it's hands. "I thank you all for coming here my friends and for playing along with an old being's follies. Farewell."

Before anyone could say a word, the six of them were back on the Bridge of the _Enterprise_.

Archer stood there for a second blinking at his crew. "Status report!"

T'Pol moved to her station instantly. "All crew present and accounted for Captain."

"And the planet?" Archer asked.

"We are in orbit above the planet."

"Captain, there's a transmission incoming from the planet," Ensign Jones said, still sitting in Hoshi's seat, although Hoshi was right next to him.

"On screen."

"It's audio only- I'm patching it through."

"Until next time, Captain Archer, _Enterprise_; I'll be waiting for your return!"

"Captain, we're getting a data transmission as well." Ensign Jones leant forwards to look at the information coming through to the console. "It seems to be a vast amount of information about the planet Thriamar and it's people."

"Is the audio still open?" Archer asked him.

"Er... negative Captain. The connection was terminated."

"Well at least we increased the amount of information from what the Vulcans had on the planet. Think that'll do you T'Pol?" Archer asked her, smiling.

"I believe I will have a satisfactory amount of data for the records Captain."

Archer laughed.

Travis took his seat back from his replacement and swung around to look Captain Archer in the face.

"Well that was definitely a strange one anyway Captain!"

"I'll second that. Well, let's keep our promise and update those records while I send a message to Starfleet. Travis, set a course. T'Pol, you have the Bridge."

"Aye Sir," came multiple voices.

Archer settled into his Ready Room. _Travis wasn't wrong- that was definitely a strange day_, he decided, _but I'm glad that's all it was. Everyone got home safely and we actually had a peaceful first contact! That's a good day's work in my book. _

With that thought, he sat at his console to message Starfleet.

Thank you for all of the reviews!


End file.
